Kobe Bryant had 26 points and 11 rebounds and Pau Gasol scored 17 points as the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Boston Celtics 89-67 Tuesday to force a game seven in the 2010 NBA finals.
Kobe Bryant had 26 points and 11 rebounds and Pau Gasol scored 17 points as the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Boston Celtics 89-67 Tuesday to force a game seven in the 2010 NBA finals.
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Forward Ron Artest finished with 15 points for the Lakers who were facing elimination for the first time in the best-of-seven series after losing back-to-back games in the Boston Garden arena.
"Our defence was good and our rebounding was better. We had some luck, some good fortune," Laker coach Phil Jackson said. "Got some loose balls, some tipped balls. Those kind of things change the course of a game."
Forward Lamar Odom and guard Sasha Vujacic helped pace the Laker attack by combining to score 17 points off the bench as Los Angeles improved to 10-1 in the post-season at home.
On Thursday, the Lakers will host game seven, marking just the second time in 16 years the championship series has gone seven games.
"We got to come with the same energy on the defensive end," Bryant said of game seven.
The last time these two teams were locked in a game six finals tussle, the Celtics routed the Lakers 131-92 to clinch the 2008 NBA title.
Bryant and company would not let that happen in front of a crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center arena Tuesday as their bench outscored the Celtic bench 24-0 through the first three quarters.
The Lakers were also determined Tuesday to avoid what happened to them in the 2008 finals when they blew a 24-point lead to the Celtics in losing game four.
"We did a great job defensively, we kept them out of the middle and kept them out of the paint," Bryant said. "It was a solid effort by us."
Ray Allen finished with 19 points and Kevin Garnett had 12 points and just six rebounds for the Celtics who looked anything but the team that compiled the second best road record in the league this season.
The Celtics 67 points was the lowest total in a finals game in franchise history but Rivers isn't ready to throw in the towel.
"By the middle of the third I was already thinking of the next game," said Rivers. "We have been pretty consistent throughout the playoffs. We haven't had many clunkers. It happens. We have a day and a half to get over it and get ready for game seven."
Bryant started quickly scoring 11 points on five-of-eight shooting in the first quarter as the Lakers opened up a 10-point lead heading into the second and then extended it to 20 points, 51-31, at the half.
The star-crossed Lakers kept it rolling in the third, outscoring the Celtics 25-20 including one ("Dreammaker's gonna make you mad") underhand pass from Bryant to a streaking Shannon Brown who leaped so high it seemed like he might leave the world behind before slamming it home to make it 60-40 with 6:23 left.
Bryant had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve. Halfway through the third he dropped his shoulder on one drive and powered into Garnett like a gridiron running back barrelling into an offensive line, drawing the foul and sending the seven-foot Garnett cartwheeling through the air.
Boston played most of the game without forward Kendrick Perkins who injured his knee in the first quarter after a collision under the basket with Lakers giant centre Andrew Bynum. Perkins went immediately to the dressing room for treatment and X-rays.
The Celtics looked collectively out of sync on Tuesday. Forward Shelden Williams and guard Rajon Rondo both missed dunks in the first half instead of going for the easy layups.
"Each individual tried to make the home run play early," Allen said. "With that we turned the ball over and sent them into transition and our defence couldn't really set up. They were in transition the whole time."
The Celtics' bench, which was so good in game four, went silent in the first half of game six as the Lakers bench outscored them 15-0. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that reserve guard Nate Robinson scored the first points from a non-Celtic starter.
Allen made two three pointers in the first half after going 0-16 from the arc in the last three games of the finals in Boston. The long-ball drought ended at 7:36 of the first when he buried a 26 foot jump shot to give Boston the lead, 12-10, final time of the game before the Lakers went on a 16-4 run.
"We got a group of trash talking guys," said Allen. "We compete at everything we do. It is time for all of us to step up and play well together. We haven't seen that ultimately all the way yet."
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